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Canon’s Common Counterfeits

If you’re a Canon body owner, you might think that getting some good spare batteries for cheap would be a great idea! That would mean hours upon hours of shooting, right? Well, those hours could be substantially cut down and could cause some other frustration. The horrible keyword is “cheap.” Ya dig?

I love saving money, although I’m horrible at it. Wait, I should rephrase that. I love finding deals. Quite often, you’ll be able to find some third party batteries for popular Canon bodies for a relatively inexpensive price–$15 for a battery! $15?! I could buy 4 of them for the price of one genuine battery!

But what you don’t know is that those third party batteries tend to die a lot faster and are quite inconsistent in their build quality. In my scenario, it caused my camera to malfunction–I don’t remember what code was displayed, but it my camera wouldn’t function unless I had a different battery in it. In the worst case scenario, it can literally explode. But, in the best case scenario, the battery works for a decent amount of time, giving you a good $15 worth of battery life, but that’s your gamble.

So that’s an $15 battery. What about if you can find a $15 or even $9 Genuine Canon battery? That would be amazeballs right?! Or how about a Genuine Canon Charger for $23? Well, I tend to think that if it’s too good to be true, there might be a slightly small but very much achievable chance of it being true, but probably most likely isn’t. Yeah, I learned that from the trusty old internet. But for real, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. These typically end up being counterfeit items– those fakes, they’ll get you.
The most common batteries and chargers that are counterfeited are listed here:

NB-8L Batter

NB-6L Battery

NB-4L Battery

LP-E8 Battery

NB-5L Battery

LP-E6 Battery

CB-2LV Charger

LP-E5 Battery

NB-7L Battery

CB-2LA Charger

Where would I find these “Genuine” batteries and chargers? All over the place. eBay is chock-full of them! Some small independently owned electronic stores may also carry them. Your boss might actually have one or two because your co-worker may have bought one. Unfortunately, they’re increasingly getting better looking. So how do we save the world and your photographer friends? By knowing how to spot a fake one charger and one battery at a time. They’re good looking, but not that good looking. This sounds bad, but most, if not all of them are from China! That’s right, we’re all sorts of crafty and ninja-like over there.

For Batteries

Look for is the moving hologram on the packaging of the box. If it doesn’t have it, don’t buy it.

Look for weird imprinting. If it’s weird, don’t buy it.

Many times the kerning isn’t correct or the logo is tilted, jagged or not smooth, or just doesn’t look right.

Check the back of the battery and look for cracked and/or faded print.

It is quite often to find that the ink isn’t of good quality.

Look at the date stamp found on many batteries. Canon uses a specific font that is kind of tall and narrower than what I’ve typically seen.

For Chargers

Beware of corded chargers that require a plug. Genuine ones of this style are typically shipped in Europe.

Check the screws, most of the chargers have security screws and not just everyday Phillips (+) screws.

Look at the molding of the text near the terminals for the charger.

They should be clean and not messily raised. Typically, its a (+) and a (-).

Also, the shape and weight may also vary.

Canon has been plagued with this issue so much that they dedicated a whole section on their website towards educating people like you and me about this! There’s even a fun little game! Head over to Canon’s About Counterfeits page to explore around. Keep yourself updated and beware that many of Canon’s accessories have fakes– even battery grips! This may sound like a plug, but buy genuine. Maybe find them on sale or something. It’ll save you from a pretty big headache if your batteries turn out to be anything like the ones I bought.

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Mykii is an energetic and kind soul that loves sharing his passion for technology and photography! Outfitted with over 15 years of IT experience and over 10 years in the portrait photography industry, he adds his personal perspective on trending technology, reviews, and updates. He also loves motorcycling, Jeeping and tinkering with tech. He also is a ViewSonic Color Pro.

While I find your article informative and truthful I do take offence at your comment “we’re all sorts crafty and ninja-like over there”. I am married to a loverly Japanese lady and find your comment offensive. Culturally the Ninja are Japanese, which is nothing to do this Chinese fakes and fail to understand the relevance!

Thanks for writing, Richard. First off, let me explain that the ninja have always had a great reputation among us in the US. We know them to be the epitome of stealth, untraceable and very skillful. We think of them to be so skillful that they could do anything to anyone without ever being noticed while playing with the rules of deception. While I don’t claim that the Chinese are or ever were ninja or that the ninja make counterfeit batteries, the manner in which the sneaky and almost unidentifiable counterfeit products that some Chinese manufacturers produced can be–and are… Read more »

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Pete Van Ekelenburg

6 years ago

I have always had good luck with aftermarket batteries for Nikon supplied by B&H! In fact some of them held a charge longer than the original battery.

Thanks for writing, Pete! I do agree that there are some reputable companies that produce some decent batteries! I feel that they’re generally more expensive (maybe by a couple of bucks) than those that I refer to. Some of the third party batteries actually have larger cells than those of which the OEM provides. I’ve had some good times and bad times, but now I’m at a point where I don’t want to fuss with the random issues that may occur. It’s almost like a peace of mind type thing. B&H provides some good quality products for the most part,… Read more »

I don’t think they can all be bad. Consequently, I am sure some of the Canon batteries can have problems out of the box- they aren’t going to necessarily 100%. I am a Nikon shooter, and did have a defective battery for my D300 that I had to exchange. While I agree that spending the few extra dollars for the brand battery makes good sense, it is no guarantee it will be better. All of them are made by people. The margins on all accessories is through the roof, and sometimes, I cannot blame people who have spent thousands of… Read more »

Thanks for the comment Arthur! This is true that even OEM manufacturers sometimes have issues with the batteries that they send out. Big name brands do typically have better quality control and use better materials for the most part, but do let a few duds out. The good thing is that they typically have a nice warranty behind defects like that. Another strange example that I have experience with is related to a white Apple MacBook that I had. I had an OEM battery that I used till it was absolutely dead and didn’t hold a charge anymore. I replaced… Read more »

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andy schmitt

6 years ago

well maybe if Canons batteries weren’t priced like that had platinum electrodes, people wouldn’t have to buy the knockoffs.
No offense but I wonder a little about this post since I’ve used knockoffs & “real” Canon batteries for 20 years now and I’ve NEVER had any explode or ruin a camera.
In fact, I’ve never had any of my associates have this problem.
If they don’t hold a charge quite as long…well that’s why you carry several..like you do anyway.

Hey Andy, thanks for your input. I wouldn’t say that people have to buy the knock-offs. I did, but I didn’t have to– I didn’t even know about them either. The point is that people are not even are aware that they buy knockoff Canon batteries, which is the point of this article. I’ve had third-party batteries that were only $10 less than the genuine battery at ~$50, and those turned out fine. The difference, I believe, is that for $15, the quality may or may not be guaranteed. That extra $30-$45 may be worth the piece of mind. I’m… Read more »

Now, just wondering, would you carry around 5 cheaper knock offs or 3 OEM batteries if you could get all of them for the same total price?

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